| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
Do sit-stand tables affect physical behavior and body composition similarly in normal-weight and overweight office workers? A pilot study
- 2023
-
Ingår i: IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2472-5838. ; 11, s. 81-93
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: A sit-stand table (SST) at work may help office workers shorten and break up sitting by periods of standing. However, it is not clear whether SST use influences sitting at and outside work to similar extents among normal-weight and overweight office workers, and whether it can change body composition.Purpose: To investigate if introducing SSTs affects physical behavior and body composition similarly in normal-weight and overweight office workers.Methods: In this pilot intervention study, physical behavior and body composition were evaluated and compared between normal-weight (n=8) and overweight (n=14) office workers, both before and after using a SST for 6 months. Time spent sitting, standing, and moving was recorded using a triaxial thigh accelerometer during work and leisure. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry was used to determine fat, lean, and bone mass. Physical behavior and body composition data were both processed using compositional data analysis.Results: The intervention was similarly effective for normal weight and overweight workers in changing physical behavior during work, mainly by reducing sitting time and increasing standing time, while no effects were seen during leisure. We found no effect of the intervention on body composition.Conclusion: A sit-stand table intervention for 6 months changed physical behaviors at work to a similar extent among normal weight and overweight office workers. No compensatory behaviors were observed during leisure, and the intervention had no significant effects on body composition.
|
|
| 3. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
Effects on variation in shoulder, forearm and low back muscle activity from combining seated computer work with other productive office tasks: Results from a simulation study
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Ergonomics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0014-0139 .- 1366-5847. ; 65:6, s. 815-827
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect on muscle activity variation of combining different office tasks is not known. We recorded electromyography from the upper trapezius (UT), wrist extensor (WE) and lumbar erector spinae (LES) in 24 office workers during five productive tasks, and breaks. Minute-to-minute variance was then estimated, by simulations, in a reference ‘job’ consisting of 85% sitting computer work and 15% breaks, and in ‘jobs’ where sitting computer work was replaced by different proportions of the other office tasks and breaks. Replacing sitting computer work with sitting non-computer work increased estimated variance by, in median, 23% (UT), 19% (WE) and 0% (LES). Replacing it by other tasks, in particular standing computer work and non-desk work, was less effective in increasing variance. Thus, some combinations of office tasks have a slight potential to increase muscle activity variation in the shoulder and lower arm, but not the lumbar back, while others will be ineffective.
|
|
| 4. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian Franca, et al.
(författare)
-
Comparison of sedentary behaviors in office workers using sit-stand tables with and without semi-automated position changes
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Human Factors. - : SAGE Publications. - 0018-7208 .- 1547-8181. ; 59:5, s. 782-795
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: This study compared usage patterns of two different electronically controlled sit-stand tables during a 2-month intervention period among office workers.Background: Office workers spend most of their working time sitting, which is likely detrimental to health. Although the introduction of sit-stand tables has been suggested as an effective intervention to decrease sitting time, limited evidence is available on usage patterns of sit-stand tables, and whether patterns are influenced by table configuration.Methods: Twelve workers were provided with standard sit-stand tables (non-automated table group) and 12 with semi-automated sit-stand tables programmed to change table position according to a pre-set pattern, if the user agreed to the system-generated prompt (semi-automated table group). Table position was monitored continuously for two months after introducing the tables, as a proxy for sit-stand behavior.Results: On average, the table was in a “sit” position for 85% of the work-day in both groups; this did not change significantly during the 2-month period. Switches in table position from sit to stand were, however, more frequent in the semi-automated table group than in the non-automated table group (0.65 vs. 0.29 hr-1; p=0.001).Conclusion: Introducing a semi-automated sit-stand table appeared to be an attractive alternative to a standard sit-stand table, since it led to more posture variation.Application: A semi-automated sit-stand table may effectively contribute to making postures more variable among office workers, and thus aid in alleviating negative health effects of extensive sitting.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
Neck, trunk, and upper arm posture variation during computer work at a sit-stand table in a real work setting
- 2019
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Computer work is generally associated with constrained postures and sedentary behaviors. Sit-stand tables have been suggested as an effective intervention to promote changes in gross body posture, and thus reduce sitting. However, few studies have addressed to what extent sit-stand table usage affects posture variation in other body regions. The aim of this study was to examine neck, trunk and arm postures among office workers with access to sit-stand tables.Methods: Twenty-four office workers (16 females, 8 males; mean age 41 (SD9) years) participated. At entry, workers received sit-stand tables, which were then used for two months. Neck and trunk flexion, and right upper arm elevation (RUA) was recorded on three consecutive days, two hours/day, during the last week of table use. Minute-to-minute variability for the three postures during sitting (CWsit) and standing (CWstand) computer work was obtained for each participant. Job variance ratios (JVR) were calculated for the actual work, and for other combinations of CWsit and CWstand by simulation1.Results: CWsit and CWstand were performed for 72% and 28% of the time spent at the computer. Minute-to-minute variability was larger in CWsit than in CWstand for all three postures, and the difference CWsit-CWstand was largest for RUA [median 1.7 (IQR −0.2–1.7)º], followed by trunk [1.6 (0.9–3.0)º] and neck [0.9 (0.0–3.1)º]. During actual work, JVR was between 1 and 3 for most participants. Simulations suggested that maximum variability would occur at a combination of 40–80% CWsit and 20–60% CWstand.Conclusion: Neck, trunk and arm posture variation during computer work can be increased by manipulating proportions of time spent sitting and standing at a sit-stand table. The tentative “optimal” proportions reported here could be a benchmark for occupational health professionals.
|
|
| 7. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
Sit-stand tables with semi-automated position changes : a new interactive approach for reducing sitting in office work
- 2017
-
Ingår i: IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2472-5838 .- 2472-5846. ; 5:1, s. 39-46
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Introduction of sit-stand tables has been proposed as an initiative to decrease sedentary behavior among office workers and thus reduce risks of negative cardiometabolic health effects. However, ensuring proper and sustainable use of such tables has remained a challenge for successful implementation. Objective: We developed a new system to promote and sustain the use of sit-stand tables. Methods: The system was programmed to change the position of the table between “sit” and “stand” positions according to a regular pre-set pattern, if the user agreed to the system-generated prompts prior to each change. The user could respond to the system-generated prompts by agreeing, refusing or delaying the changes by 2 minutes. We obtained user compliance data when this system was programmed to a schedule of 10 minutes of standing after every 50 minutes of sitting. Compliance was investigated in nine office workers who were offered the semi-automated sit-stand table for two months. Results: On average, the system issued 12-14 alerts per day throughout the period. Average acceptance rate ranged from 75.0-82.4%, and refusal rate ranged from 11.8-10.1% between the first and eighth weeks of intervention (difference not statistically significant). During the first week after introduction, the table was in a standing position for 75.2 min on average, increasing slightly to 77.5 min in the eighth week. Conclusion: Since the workers were essentially sitting down before the table was introduced, these results suggest that the system was accepted well, and led to an effective reduction of sitting during working hours. Users also reported that the system contributed positively to their health and wellbeing, without interrupt their regular work, and that they would like to continue using the sit-stand table even beyond the two-month period, as part of their regular work. Compliance beyond two months of use, however, needs to be verified.
|
|
| 8. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
The ability of non-computer tasks to increase biomechanical exposure variability in computer-intensive office work
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Ergonomics. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0014-0139 .- 1366-5847. ; 58:1, s. 50-64
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Postures and muscle activity in the upper body were recorded from 50 academics office workers during 2 hours of normal work, categorised by observation into computer work (CW) and three non-computer (NC) tasks (NC seated work, NC standing/walking work and breaks). NC tasks differed significantly in exposures from CW, with standing/walking NC tasks representing the largest contrasts for most of the exposure variables. For the majority of workers, exposure variability was larger in their present job than in CW alone, as measured by the job variability ratio (JVR), i.e. the ratio between min–min variabilities in the job and in CW. Calculations of JVRs for simulated jobs containing different proportions of CW showed that variability could, indeed, be increased by redistributing available tasks, but that substantial increases could only be achieved by introducing more vigorous tasks in the job, in casu illustrated by cleaning.
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
- Barbieri, Dechristian, et al.
(författare)
-
The effect of sit-stand workstations to decrease sedentariness in office work: tests of 2 systems with and without automatic reminders
- 2016
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sedentary behaviors in office workers has become a major public health concern and several initiatives have been proposed to break up sedentary behavior patterns during the performance of computer-intensive office work. Among such initiatives, the use of sit-stand workstations has been suggested to be one of the most promising by recent reviews. However, there still is only limited scientific evidence showing how effective sit-stand workstations are, in reducing sedentary behaviors and also documentation of their sustainability of use in studies of regular office work (i.e. as the “newness” of the system wears off, with time since introduction). This study aimed to document user behaviors and compare the use of two sit-stand workstation based interventions among two groups of administrative office workers: an “autonomous” group in which these workstations were introduced following some general ergonomic guidelines, and another “feedback-system” group in which the sit-stand tables were furnished with a semi-automatic reminder system, programmed to raise the table to a high (i.e. standing) position for 10 minutes after every accumulated 50 minutes of the table being in a low (i.e. sitting) position, i.e. to result in about 83% sitting per day. In addition, the sustainability of the use of these two kinds of sit-stand workstation interventions over two continuous months since their introduction was also studied. The results averaged over two months of usage of the two interventions showed that the percentage (%) sitting time was 87.4 (84.9-89.2) on average in the autonomous group and 84.0 (83.5-85.4) on average in the feedback-system group (P=0.001), and the frequency of switches between sitting and standing was 0.3 (0.2-0.3) per hour in the autonomous group and 0.7 (0.6-0.7) per hour in the feedback-system group (P=0.001). Thus, the sit-stand table system integrated with the automatic reminder system led to more reduction in sitting time and more switches in posture between sitting and standing as compared to the traditional sit-stand table, and behaviors of both groups were seen to be sustained over the 2-month intervention period (no difference across time for any of the variables tested for any group).
|
|
